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AtomikKrab
Jul 17, 2010

Keep on GOP rolling rolling rolling rolling.

Phobophilia posted:

That and his plan is still terrible and stupid. Unless Touma is willing to physically scramble Accelerator's brain, it should by rights be zero reason to stop the experiments. The City has sunk so many resources into him that their response to Touma doing his thing should be "oh, I wonder what's his shtick? While we're finding out, let's continue slaughtering the clones".

Huge Spoiler

He kicks the crap out of accelerator and makes Accelerator rethink what he has been doing, which stops the experiments because accelerator is no longer willing to kill misaka clones. No Accelerator, no experiment. Incidently Accelerator has not been punched enough yet.

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JosephWongKS
Apr 4, 2009

by Nyc_Tattoo
Episode 16

The post-fight conversation between Misaka, Misaka-imouto and the two little girls was so :kimchi:, I don't even care that it was Touma and not Misaka who brought the fight to an end.

Also, Misaka continues to be so tsundere it hurts. Does she ever get any better in the light novels?

JosephWongKS fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Jul 27, 2013

FrantzX
Jan 28, 2007
I really want to watch A Certain Sarcastic Hive-Mind now. The Sisters are the best.

Wolf on Air
Dec 31, 2004

Combat Instructor
Armed Forces, Time-Space Administration Bureau
MISAKA Network for best anime character 2013.

It keeps storyboarding the manga pretty straight-up, though with some expanded/tuned lines here and there. I think it's a very nice denouement to an arc that was really all about (de)humanization in several different ways. The stinger with the badge in particular was simple, but beautiful; and original to the anime. 9982, you weren't meant for this world :(

And I dunno, I think this episode's bridge scene highlights how Touma goes about bringing out the thundere in Misaka pretty well (I mean, he could notice she's flustered and let her collect her thoughts instead of blowing her off, if he had two clues to rub together), and it serves as a contrast to the other ways she's grown. I would suspect she doesn't actually get better in the LNs because the LNs are terrible, though I hear they eventually cave to the plot having them bump together all the time. Can't speak for how it's handled.

(Manga) Denouement for now, anyway. Where's my volume 061, goddamn? :argh: Does anyone know the release schedule for it?

Wolf on Air fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Jul 27, 2013

Outer Science
Dec 21, 2008

Daisangen
Well that was certainly an excellent season guys, wrap it up, let's hope for Super Railgun S Turbo sometime in 2015 maybe :v:

Anyway, this was a really good episode, but come on it's the climax, you'd hope that would be the case. I think something I've realized from this whole arc is that Touma is a much better character when he isn't the protagonist. He actually does come off as kind of an effective savior in this telling of the story, in the mental/emotional sense of being someone Mikoto could rely on when she thought the entire city was against her. I legitimately think it was handled well, though I don't know how much of that is because I had really low expectations to start with.

JosephWongKS posted:

Also, Misaka continues to be so tsundere it hurts. Does she ever get any better in the light novels?

(LNs) Not really, to my knowledge. She does eventually come to a really shocking realization of how much she likes him that I think I posted before, and from there she starts trying to be more proactive with him, but plot keeps getting in the way. Refreshingly she calls Touma out on his stupid "hero shouldering all the burdens" shtick, but this is mostly wasted on him. Which angers Mikoto because it's kind of hypocritical of him to tell her that she can share her burdens with him, while refusing to share his burdens with anyone.

Wolf on Air posted:

I would suspect she doesn't actually get better in the LNs because the LNs are terrible, though I hear they eventually cave to the plot having them bump together all the time. Can't speak for how it's handled.

(LNs) Mikoto plays important roles in a lot of the remaining LN stories. My favorite among them is the Hawaii arc, where she teams up with Accelerator and the yet-to-be-introduced Misaka WORST and kicks some rear end. At any rate, she's being elevated further and further in any plot in which she can reasonably play a role and Index herself keeps getting brushed to the side. In general, at least.

While we're talking about the LNs, it's kind of interesting how the theme of the story has shifted throughout the series' expansion. What originally started as a light sci-fi religion vs. secularism conflict has evolved into (LNs, duh) a sort of investigation of the nature of heroism. With the addition of two more protagonists, we now see conflicts from the eyes of three different archetypes of "hero": 1) The Chosen One, with the unique prophesied ability to resolve the conflict, 2) The Redeemed Villain, who has seen the worst of the world and escaped, and 3) The Powerless, who takes on the hero mantle despite the overwhelming odds stacked against him. This whole concept of what makes a hero is actually exploited by the villains in the latest novel.

Despite the piss-poor execution, I think Kamachi has shown that he can come up with actually interesting ideas as an author. But really, I wouldn't trade the insanity of some of the un-animated LN arcs for anything, they're too excellent.

AnacondaHL
Feb 15, 2009

I'm the lead trumpet player, playing loud and high is all I know how to do.

There's a little extra :3: scene during the credits song of (16).

AradoBalanga
Jan 3, 2013

FrantzX posted:

I really want to watch A Certain Sarcastic Hive-Mind now. The Sisters are the best.
Seconding this.

This ending was a whole lot better than I expected. Yes, Touma is the one to do the heavy lifting like in Index, but Misaka has closure and accepts the Sisters instead of doing everything to ignore them. It feels like there is something learned by the lead, instead of the lead dealing with one issue and then moving on like nothing happened. Sure, Misaka goes Maximum TsundereTM over most of it, but she still learns that she can't do everything on her own and that she has limitations. Also, Misaka learns to accept a part of her past that she'd rather bury in the ground and become a real big sister as opposed to a figurative one. The ending just felt good, and at the end of the day, it wasn't a protagonist hijack like some feared would happen with Touma coming in. Misaka still learned from the whole arc, like a protagonist should.

Parpy
Oct 23, 2009

Ducklings have been known to imprint on, and imitate, species in close vicinity -- especially cats and dogs.

~SMcD
10032's reaction to Misaka's declaring them real sisters that she would die for was heartwarming, saddening, and everything in between. I felt it was a fantastic episode all-round, but that moment was particularly great.

This season has been incredibly satisfying. It looks like we're in for The Saten & Uiharu Show for the remainder of it. Whatever. I'm cool with riding out the last few episodes on a lighter note. You know JC Staff has an obsession with Saten so at least they waited until now to shoehorn the inevitable slice-of-life stuff in.

Falken
Jan 26, 2004

Do you feel like a hero yet?
There's also some Fre|nda!

ViggyNash
Oct 9, 2012
I came into the last two episodes expecting a total hijack of the show where Misaka essentially became inconsequential. On the contrary, the last two episodes were both fantastic, and sold itself to both sides. It managed to let Touma be actual victor as per the LNs without taking away Misaka's accomplishments. She will probably always be Super Tsundere because gently caress the LNs, but at least that aspect of her only shows up with Touma.

Its still odd that they never mentioned the researcher after her capture though.

AtomikKrab
Jul 17, 2010

Keep on GOP rolling rolling rolling rolling.

ViggyNash posted:

I came into the last two episodes expecting a total hijack of the show where Misaka essentially became inconsequential. On the contrary, the last two episodes were both fantastic, and sold itself to both sides. It managed to let Touma be actual victor as per the LNs without taking away Misaka's accomplishments. She will probably always be Super Tsundere because gently caress the LNs, but at least that aspect of her only shows up with Touma.

Its still odd that they never mentioned the researcher after her capture though.


The researcher is never mentioned again, EVER

JosephWongKS
Apr 4, 2009

by Nyc_Tattoo

AtomikKrab posted:

The researcher is never mentioned again, EVER

Poor Shinobu. :ohdear:

ViggyNash
Oct 9, 2012

JosephWongKS posted:

Poor Shinobu. :ohdear:

Whisked away by fairies into the the cold night, erased from existence.

a kitten
Aug 5, 2006

JosephWongKS posted:

Poor Shinobu. :ohdear:

She's moonlighting under the name Wakamiya Shinobu over in Chihayafuru.

JosephWongKS
Apr 4, 2009

by Nyc_Tattoo
Glad to see I'm not the only one who cares about Shinobu's wellbeing. Seems like she's made a disproportionately deep impression relative to her limited appearances in the arc.

ViggyNash
Oct 9, 2012

a kitten posted:

She's moonlighting under the name Wakamiya Shinobu over in Chihayafuru.
http://i.imgur.com/pFyxR.gif


If this becomes canon I will love it wholeheartedly.

SatansBestBuddy
Sep 26, 2010

by FactsAreUseless

JosephWongKS posted:

Glad to see I'm not the only one who cares about Shinobu's wellbeing. Seems like she's made a disproportionately deep impression relative to her limited appearances in the arc.

Probably because she had a disproportionate amount of screen time and focus during this arc. I'm actually kinda shocked she doesn't show up in the manga again, considering they went out of their way to show she was fighting to save the sisters, too. I mean, she did something when she was on that computer, I can't just be told that Last Order blocked it and nothing happened. Stories don't just end in the middle like that.

Clarste
Apr 15, 2013

Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

SatansBestBuddy posted:

Probably because she had a disproportionate amount of screen time and focus during this arc. I'm actually kinda shocked she doesn't show up in the manga again, considering they went out of their way to show she was fighting to save the sisters, too. I mean, she did something when she was on that computer, I can't just be told that Last Order blocked it and nothing happened. Stories don't just end in the middle like that.

She fought and she lost. She had her own Bad Ending. I always thought the main purpose of her character was to show the audience the price of failure and make Misaka's situation seem more hopeless. Although I wouldn't be surprised if the anime decided to rescue her or something.

fivegears4reverse
Apr 4, 2007

by R. Guyovich

SatansBestBuddy posted:

Probably because she had a disproportionate amount of screen time and focus during this arc. I'm actually kinda shocked she doesn't show up in the manga again, considering they went out of their way to show she was fighting to save the sisters, too. I mean, she did something when she was on that computer, I can't just be told that Last Order blocked it and nothing happened. Stories don't just end in the middle like that.

Well, remember that until the Index Manga created the researcher character, she never existed so far as I'm aware. Her role in the story to really to emphasize how close to impossible it was to be resisting these experiments: the city itself is accommodating it, despite how horrific it is. They are willing to make people disappear in order to keep doing these things. Later in the manga we get to learn more about the people directly behind the Radio Noise and Level 6 Shift experiments, and calling them monsters is almost a compliment. Academy City's dark side is incredibly hosed up.

That said, the manga is still on an arc that happens alongside of another Index story line following the events of the Sisters arc, and there's always a chance that she'll show up again, maybe even as part of the current arc.

ViggyNash
Oct 9, 2012
Its still odd that even Misaka has completely forgotten about her. Shinobu was the one that introduced her to the Level 6 experiments in the first place, so without that catalyst Misaka would never have even known what was going on, let alone been able to stop it. It's nothing short of a large, gaping plot whole.

AnacondaHL
Feb 15, 2009

I'm the lead trumpet player, playing loud and high is all I know how to do.

This is anime; if they don't show the character in black and white sketch that fades to white screen then she ain't dead. :colbert:

JosephWongKS
Apr 4, 2009

by Nyc_Tattoo

AnacondaHL posted:

This is anime; if they don't show the character in black and white sketch that fades to white screen then she ain't dead. :colbert:

This is Academy City, home of officially-sanctioned experiments on orphans that turn them comatose (Season 1) and experiments involving the methodical and systematic slaughtering of 20,000 girls (Season 2). There are much, much, much worse things they can do to a captive other than killing her.

Clarste
Apr 15, 2013

Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

ViggyNash posted:

Its still odd that even Misaka has completely forgotten about her. Shinobu was the one that introduced her to the Level 6 experiments in the first place, so without that catalyst Misaka would never have even known what was going on, let alone been able to stop it. It's nothing short of a large, gaping plot whole.

Misaka doesn't even know Shinobu tried to do anything, and she goes to a different school, etc. She probably assumes she's still living a safe, civilian life. Why would she bother to investigate her for no reason? It's not like they're friends.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

JosephWongKS posted:

This is Academy City, home of officially-sanctioned experiments on orphans that turn them comatose (Season 1) and experiments involving the methodical and systematic slaughtering of 20,000 girls (Season 2). There are much, much, much worse things they can do to a captive other than killing her.

Light Novels: Just check out what they did with Dark Matter when they found his crushed body

ViggyNash
Oct 9, 2012

Clarste posted:

Misaka doesn't even know Shinobu tried to do anything, and she goes to a different school, etc. She probably assumes she's still living a safe, civilian life. Why would she bother to investigate her for no reason? It's not like they're friends.

Oh, that's true. I forgot that Misaka didn't even know Shinobu acted on her own as well. But still, I figured she might at least wonder what became of Shinobu since, as you said, she doesn't know what happened to her after she last saw her.

Nate RFB
Jan 17, 2005

Clapping Larry
This episode along with the fifth one were the main things I was looking forward to in this series. Well, those and ITEM I suppose. There is a good chance the rest will be unremarkable or even kind of bad, but the Mikasa/Sisters interactions were a lot of fun. Maybe we'll get lucky and they do a repeat of what they did with season 1 and use some of the upcoming anime-only material to wrap up the Shinobu plot thread.

pezzie
Apr 11, 2003

everytime someone says a seasonal anime is GOAT

Just watch the best anime ever
They should spend the rest of the season animating the Liberal Arts City light novel. :colbert:

JosephWongKS
Apr 4, 2009

by Nyc_Tattoo

Nate RFB posted:

Maybe we'll get lucky and they do a repeat of what they did with season 1 and use some of the upcoming anime-only material to wrap up the Shinobu plot thread.

Which part of Season 1 was anime-only? I can tell that the "swimsuit episode", "dormitory supervisor gets rejected by her crush episode", and "day in the life of the incompetent Anti-Skill officer episode" were obviously filler episodes, but was there anything else that was anime-original?

Clarste
Apr 15, 2013

Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

JosephWongKS posted:

Which part of Season 1 was anime-only? I can tell that the "swimsuit episode", "dormitory supervisor gets rejected by her crush episode", and "day in the life of the incompetent Anti-Skill officer episode" were obviously filler episodes, but was there anything else that was anime-original?

Everything after the Level Upper arc ended.

Nate RFB
Jan 17, 2005

Clapping Larry

JosephWongKS posted:

Which part of Season 1 was anime-only? I can tell that the "swimsuit episode", "dormitory supervisor gets rejected by her crush episode", and "day in the life of the incompetent Anti-Skill officer episode" were obviously filler episodes, but was there anything else that was anime-original?
The whole arc with this lady. It also served to wrap up Harumi Kiyama's story, which was also sort of left hanging in the manga.

Mason Dixon
Jul 28, 2001

Crimson Butterfly

arisu posted:

They should spend the rest of the season animating the Liberal Arts City light novel. :colbert:

I've been holding off reading that side story, just in case they finished this season with it.

JosephWongKS
Apr 4, 2009

by Nyc_Tattoo

Clarste posted:

Everything after the Level Upper arc ended.

Nate RFB posted:

The whole arc with this lady. It also served to wrap up Harumi Kiyama's story, which was also sort of left hanging in the manga.


Wait, what? Seriously? So in the light novels / manga, the eye-bag scientist lady still hasn't rescued her students and all of those kids are still comatose? That's one hell of a plot ticket to leave unresolved.

Redcrimson
Mar 3, 2008

Second-stage Midboss Syndrome

Nate RFB posted:

The whole arc with this lady. It also served to wrap up Harumi Kiyama's story, which was also sort of left hanging in the manga.

Wait, the poltergeisting arc isn't in the manga? That was pretty much my favorite part of season 1.

Redcrimson fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Aug 1, 2013

Clarste
Apr 15, 2013

Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

JosephWongKS posted:

Wait, what? Seriously? So in the light novels / manga, the eye-bag scientist lady still hasn't rescued her students and all of those kids are still comatose? That's one hell of a plot ticket to leave unresolved.

The manga is more a bit more morbid. Scientist lady fails, the kids are screwed, Academy City is a terrible place to live. It's not a story that needed a happy ending. But that's exactly why some people are hoping that the anime will also give a happy ending to Shinobu, who last we saw was being carried away to a life of slavery or something.

pezzie
Apr 11, 2003

everytime someone says a seasonal anime is GOAT

Just watch the best anime ever

Redcrimson posted:

Wait, the poltergeisting arc isn't in the manga? That was pretty much my favorite part of season 1.

It isn't shown in the manga, but the scenes from the anime are canon. Characters introduced in that arc (Haruue) are around in the manga during the Sisters arc (at least in sticker pic form). The events happened, they just happened off screen in the manga.

ArchangeI
Jul 15, 2010
Just do one episode where a crack team of Sisters rescue her in a Daring Commando Raid. Bonus points if they deliver action-movie one liners in a flat monotone.

Spend the rest of the season on beach episodes if you must.

Clarste
Apr 15, 2013

Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

arisu posted:

It isn't shown in the manga, but the scenes from the anime are canon. Characters introduced in that arc (Haruue) are around in the manga during the Sisters arc (at least in sticker pic form). The events happened, they just happened off screen in the manga.

I don't recall Haruue being in the manga at all, although I might have missed some tiny cameo.

pezzie
Apr 11, 2003

everytime someone says a seasonal anime is GOAT

Just watch the best anime ever

Clarste posted:

I don't recall Haruue being in the manga at all, although I might have missed some tiny cameo.

It's a "blink and you miss it" moment:

http://www.batoto.net/read/_/151006/to-aru-kagaku-no-railgun_v6_ch32_by_animum-mutare/21

Pretty much confirms that the Poltergeist arc happened off screen in the manga though, since she doesn't show up there at all.

Phobophilia
Apr 26, 2008

by Hand Knit
~And all the lessons of friendship and humility for your superpowers offer vulnerabilities shall be lost like tears in the rain~

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AtomikKrab
Jul 17, 2010

Keep on GOP rolling rolling rolling rolling.

Indexverse author is constantly working on the storyline, so the animes are more detailed than the LN and manga and explore in deeper detail the poo poo that happens. :shrug: I don't got a problem with it.

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